Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Famous Food: 7/20/11

Probably due to no one watching it on Sundays, Famous Food on VH1 was moved to Wednesdays at 8 PM.

We picked up this week after Danielle Staub's chef fiasco - and by that I mean she refused to find a chef and instead used her own recipes.

The episode began with the guys from Three 6 Mafia complaining that since Ashley came up with the picnic theme for the restaurant, she thinks she's in charge of everything.

Next, Mike and Lonnie suggested that the team have a chef-off, in which chefs in the celebrities' price range compete for the job at Picnique. Danielle immediately called Chef Clark, a chef that she knows, because clearly everything that Danielle likes is good (note sarcasm). Heidi Montag called high-end chefs that she knows, and because of that, Danielle said that she's trying to get under her skin. She said that because Heidi was on the design team, so she should have stayed out of Danielle and Three 6 Mafia's menu team. Because, you know, getting help is such a terrible thing.

Vinnie joked around about how this restaurant was nuts and he was in trouble with this team, and I can't say I blame him. Although he hasn't really stood out as much as many of the others, he also didn't annoy us nearly as much.

Heidi brought in Chef Greg, and while he seemed to be good, Danielle said that she wouldn't want Heidi's choice because the chef choice was hers. In her own words, it's "mine, mine, mine, mine, mine." Very mature, Danielle.

The chefs were tested and each person had their preferences. Jake Pavelka was a fan of Chef Bradley, who made food that looked awesome. Unfortunately, Heidi's chef did not initially seem to please, but when she determined that the awful pasta dish was based on Danielle's recipe, it made more sense. At this point, Heidi noted that she doesn't think that Danielle asked the chefs about their salaries, but didn't want to step on her and ask.

Danielle's choice, Chef Clark, closed up the competition. While Danielle said the contest was just a formality and her chef would obviously win, DJ Paul did not appreciate Chef Clark's raw chicken.

Ashley said she was confused at being called the head of the design team, but she was okay with it because the picnic concept was her idea. At this point, Danielle decided she wants to get all up in Ashley's business because, of course, it's Danielle's way or no way.

Unfortunately, Ashley fell from grace at this point - she said she was leaving for the weekend to see her boyfriend. The other team members were less than impressed, and said that if Ashley's boyfriend really cared about her, he'd fly out to LA to see her, rather than making her fly to visit him.

Some members of the group, including Danielle, visited a flea market to look for things for the restaurant. They picked up a bench for $350 and some other stuff. Not bad spending, considering how much of the budget was already spent. Still, Vinnie was mad because he wanted to spend some cash previously and wasn't allowed to. (If you look, and not even carefully, you'll see that the difference is that Danielle thinks her ideas are good and everyone else's are bad.)

Jake Pavelka got a call from his attorney saying that Picnique was a no go for the restaurant name because a New York restaurant already has that name. The team revised the restaurant name to Lemon Basket. I'm not sure I love it, but it'll be a whole lot easier for people to spell and search than Picnique.

The chef cook-off came next: Bradley, Greg and Clark competed for the spot as the restaurant's chef.

Heidi said that she likes the name "Al Fresco" for the restaurant because it's American and not Italian. She also told us about her many plastic surgeries...so it was an interesting week for Heidi.

Danielle's favorite, Chef Clark went first and made a tempura peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Immediately, the team (except for Danielle) said it might be too unhealthy for the LA audience.

Chef Brad came next. He made a honeycomb peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Chef Greg finished up with an almond butter and jelly sandwich.

The chefs then competed with a grilled lemon pepper chicken dish. Danielle only liked her chef...shocker. She also claimed that Heidi's chef should be disqualified for not staying exactly on par with the request, like using almond butter instead of peanut butter.

Danielle dropped the ball on telling the chefs the salary, and when they told Chef Bradley the salary they could offer, he said he makes twice that and can't work for that kind of money. Danielle and DJ Paul said they told Chef Bradley the salary previously and he agreed to it, but I have a feeling that they may be incorrect. The Three 6 Mafia guys made a good point - they think Danielle sabotaged the competition by not talking money so the others could get priced out and hers would be the only one available to win.

Chef Greg could start soon and had would work for between $55,000 - $60,000 a year, which was the intended budget. The whole team voted for Greg...except for Danielle. At this point, Lonnie and Mike even discussed the fact that Danielle seemed to want to win the competition more than having the restaurant succeed. Greg was given the offer, but to bring down the happiness, Danielle said it wasn't unanimous and she didn't vote for him. Nice, Danielle.

At this point, $102,000 remained in the Famous Food budget.

Heidi won the MVP prize this week because she found the winning chef and stepped outside of her own team to help the chef finding team. Vinnie was a close second for revamping the restaurant name.

Ashley returned to the restaurant to see the bench that Danielle bought, and she was upset that no one texted her about the bench. She said it was a respect thing - but really, she showed a lack of respect by leaving to see her boyfriend. Danielle and the Three 6 Mafia guys did not take kindly to this and accused Ashley of leaving to go have sex. (If you recall, she was Elliot Spitzer's call girl, so this was an insult.) Danielle and the guys attacked Ashley. Danielle went off on Ashley for insulting her as a mother, even though I'm not sure that I heard an insult. I could have missed it, but I don't think it was that bad. One of the Three 6 Mafia guys (DJ Paul) started physically threatening Ashley - that's not cool. Even sadder was that Danielle looked happy about the situation. Vindictive, much? Arguing is one thing, but don't take it to a physical level.

To end, here is a quote I was told today regarding Heidi Montag and Danielle Staub: "You know a show is bad when you actually want to root for Heidi Montag."